The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Writing Books under the Pine Trees

Writing Books under the Pine Trees

c. 1308–85
(Chinese, c. 1308–1385)
China, Yuan dynasty (1271-1368)
Album leaf; ink and color on paper
Painting: 39.8 x 56.9 cm (15 11/16 x 22 3/8 in.); Overall: 67.6 x 71.4 cm (26 5/8 x 28 1/8 in.)
Bequest of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1997.94
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Wang Meng wrote the inscription at the right in classical seal script and applied his signature and seal on the left side of the composition.

Description

Wang Meng, born into a distinguished family in Wuxing (modern Huzhou), Zhejiang province, was the maternal grandson of Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322). Aside from intermittent political commitments under the foreign Mongol and Ming governments, Wang dedicated most of his life to retirement, as conveyed in this painting. By the 1360s, when the Red Turbans began to rebel against the Yuan dynasty leaders, and the Mongols gradually lost control over Jiangnan, Wang Meng withdrew into the mountains north of Hangzhou, calling himself Woodcutter of Yellow Crane Mountain. In the early years of the Ming dynasty, Wang was caught up in a purge and died in prison.
  • 1964–1997
    Mr. A. Dean and Mrs. Helen Wade Greene Perry [1911–1996], Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1997–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Bian, Yongyu [Pien Yung-yu 卞永譽]. Shi gu tang shu hua hui kao 式古堂书画汇考. 1682 ch. 4, p. 48(a)
    Sullivan, Michael. Chinese and Japanese Art. New York: Grolier, 1965. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 73, color pl. p. 179
    Lee, Sherman E., and Wai-kam Ho. Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yüan Dynasty, 1279-1368. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art; [distributed by the Press of Case Western Reserve University], 1968. cat. no. 257
    Lee, Sherman E. "The Water and the Moon in Chinese and Modern Painting." Art international, vol. 14 (1970), no. 1, pp. 47–59. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 58, fig. 33
    Ho, Wai-kam, Sherman E. Lee, Laurence Sickman, and Marc F. Wilson. Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1980. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 111, pp. 136–137
    Suzuki, Kei 鈴木敬. Chūgoku kaiga sōgō zuroku [中國繪畫總合圖錄= Comprehensive Illustrated Catalog of Chinese Paintings], 第1卷. アメリカ·カナダ篇[= vol. 1 American and Canadian collections]. Tōkyō: Tōkyō Daigaku Shuppankai, 1982. #A23-006, p. I-287
    Giuffrida, Noelle. Separating Sheep from Goats: Sherman E. Lee and Chinese Art Collecting in Postwar America. Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2018. Mentioned: p. 125
  • China's Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10, 2023-January 7, 2024).
    The Fragrance of Ink: Chinese and Japanese Paintings from the Collection of Mrs. A. Dean Perry. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (April 19-August 3, 1997).
    Asian Autumn: New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 18-December 31, 1994).
    Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 11-March 29, 1981).
    Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 2-November 24, 1968).
  • {{cite web|title=Writing Books under the Pine Trees|url=false|author=Wang Meng|year=c. 1308–85|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1997.94